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U.S. Department of Justice

© .' - The Special Counsel's Office

Washington, D. C. 20530

March 27, 2019

The Honorable William P. Barr

Attorney General of the United States
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.

Re: Report of the Special Counsel on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the
2016 Presidential Election and Obstruction of Justice (March 2019)

Dear Attorney General Barr:

I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that enclosed the introduction and
executive summary for each volume of the Special Counsel's report marked with redactions to
remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure
6(e); that concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case. We also had marked
an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these sentences can be
released publicly.

Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public
consistent with legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide these
materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time .

As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the Department early in the
afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report
accurately summarize this Office ' s work and conclusions. The summary letter the Department
sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture
the context, nature, and substance of this Office 's work and conclusions. We communicated that
concern to the Department on the morning of March 25. There is now public confusion about
critical aspects of the results of our investigation . This threatens to undermine a central purpose
for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the
outcome of the investigations. See Department of Justice, Press Release (May 17, 2017).

While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full report to determine what is
appropriate for public release-a process that our Office is working with you to complete-that
process need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the
misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about
the nature and outcome of our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public
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release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter. See 28 C.F.R. § 609(c) ("the Attorney
General may determine that public release " of congressiona l notifications "wou ld be in the public
interest ").

Sincerely yours,

R1!s4:i~
Special Counsel
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